Letters to the Editor

Congressmen are ordinary people like us
With all due respect to our congressional delegation, I really hope they listen to the people who elected them and hear what they have to say regardless of their party affiliations.
I think something is terribly wrong with American politics today! I think our elected officials should vote the will of those who elected them. Our history shows that our government is of the people, by the people and for the people. That being said, would they support term limits on congressmen and senators?
How can they, with any conscience at all, have a different and better health care plan than we who pay for it? Their retirement and benefits are much better than those who elected them. Is that fair to us? They are just common citizens whom we elected. They are people like us, trying to make a life in the world. That, in my opinion, does not entitle them to a better lifestyle than we have. They are not anointed or chosen by God. They are people we elected to do a job that most of them, in my opinion, are not doing very well. It’s not just our delegation. It’s most of our elected officials. Partisanship and personal goals seem to be standing in the way of reasonable thought processes.
They should listen to us. Collectively, we are not stupid. When decisions they make get in our pockets and/or affect our life and the lives of our children, it becomes personal.Austin Marshall
Tupelo

Wasp attack brings a hero to the rescue
No one can tell me there are no heroes anymore. Last week I was visiting a cemetery and was swarmed by hundreds of red wasps. I ran screaming toward the street and saw a woman running over the grass of the cemetery toward me. How many people would run toward someone who was swarmed by wasps?
She got the wasps off me and onto her and somehow neither one of us was stung. I hugged her and thanked her and asked her name. She told me, but I was so in shock I forgot her name.
I called Mayor Reed’s office,, and the next morning Mr. Knight took care of the problem.
I will never forget the sight of that lady flying over the grass toward me. If she reads this letter, I would like her to know she has made me believe in heroes again.Marion D. Linde
Tupelo

Obama shows himself untrustworthy leader
Where, pray tell, is the balance in this newspaper? In the Aug. 22 issue, James Hull (in a so Jessie Jackson-1950ish mode) spewed his racist comments; then Rheta Johnson’s assertion that race is at the heart of the health care debate. Why was there no alternate view on the opinion page?
First, consider that fear, not racism, is at the heart of this debate, fear of the unknown and fear for what is known. What is known is that historically our government does not run very successful programs. Major undertakings end up massively over budget.
Secondly, either intentionally or due to ignorance, Obama has repeatedly lied to the American people. He campaigned on a new transparency in government and a new era of bipartisanship. What we have from this new White House is the “Blame Game.” Obama trying to blame his problems on the prior administration, claiming he had no idea how bad things were. With majorities in both the House and Senate, Obama tries to blame Republicans as the reason he can’t get a health care bill passed. That’s a lie, and he as well as most Americans know it.
Obama is neither a man of honor nor a man to be trusted. He did a 180 on his pledge of campaign financing with John McCain. We, the American people, now get a daily dose of hot air from our leaders in D.C. with Congress passing bills they haven’t even read. In the past seven to 10 months Congress has spent more money than all presidents of the past 233 years combined.
Listening to “Barry” reminds me of listening to “Slick Willie” on national television, pointing his finger into the camera and saying to the American people, “I did not have sex with that woman.”
In summary, to the ever effusive Hull and Johnson and to your newspaper, let me say, neither your name calling nor mine will change the fact that many Americans have no basis to either believe Obama nor believe in him; not because he is black but because he continues to show himself untrustworthy.Rick Atwater
Saltillo

Obama enslaved to the military-industrial sector
George Will’s advice (Sept. 3: Get Out of Afghanistan Now) needs to be heeded by Obama but the latter is as much a slave to the military-industrial complex as Bush was.
We’ve wasted over a trillion of our grandkids’ dollars on Muslim countries whose people hate us. “Nation-building”? Let’s do that for America for a change. Let’s pledge allegiance to the republic not to the empire.Bob Craig
Ripley

Politicians become puzzling on health care
Say what you mean and mean what you say.
There is a saying that goes this way. Things are not always as they seem, but rather as we perceive them to be.
For many years I have wondered why people in general believe as they do. I have come to the conclusion from examining myself that you and I think differently, but we are both right in our beliefs. Truth is what I believe it to be because I believe so strongly and so is your truth. Then I began to ponder this thought of how I could change my way of thinking “truth” to your way of thinking “truth.”
After reading a number of letters to the editor, plus watching numerous Town Hall meetings, I find it difficult to fully understand how other people especially our elected officials truly feel about the more serious issues confronting our country. As an example, I find it difficult to address long term solutions to Social Security or health care without taking on the issues of our national security, education, immigration, overpopulation, energy conservation, climate changes, faith (religion), world trade, taxation, personal responsibilities, human rights and I could go on and on, but you get the point.
We must all be consistent with our way of thinking and what we consider truth to be. In other words, you cannot believe we have the responsibility to protect the life of an ailing 90-year-old and be willing to kill a late-term unborn child. You believe we have the responsibility to feed, clothe and provide medical care to people who are too lazy or will not work and millions who violate our laws, yet no responsibility to hard working Americans struggling to survive.
I challenge one liberal and one conservative to have a civil discussion on all the important issues confronting the long term survival of our country and our way of life. And then possibility we could ask our elected officials to answer these questions. I would like to know just how much differences there are in what they really think truth to be and to allow them to justify their way of thinking to the world.Bill Watkins
Tupelo

Political contributions shade senator’s votes
Isn’t it amazing how a big cash contribution can clear the vision of a politician? According to the congressional watch dog organization, the Public Citizen, our two senators, Cochran and Wicker, received sizable contributions over time from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries to oppose a universal health plan.
This healthy contribution enabled them to see clearly that such a plan was too expensive for the American taxpayer. Especially since they had just recently, without batting an eye, bailed out the wealthy of Wall Street with trillions of taxpayer dollars. A similar big chunk of filthy lucre found in my mailbox might also affect my vision.Lamar Wray
Eupora